Coffee with Kel

Building relationships, encouraging hope

Recipes

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

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I just made a delicious (if I say so myself) dinner and I wanted to share the recipe. I used my friend Terri’s chicken enchilada recipe and changed it up just a little bit.  It’s so good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

8oz Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 (5oz) can evaporated milk
1 can Rotel tomatoes with chiles
1 pound chicken, boiled and shredded
1 regular size jar salsa
1 packet reduced-sodium taco seasoning
4oz reduced-fat sour cream
Flour tortillas
Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

Boil and shred chicken. Put into sauce pan and add the jar of salsa, taco seasoning and sour cream.  Spoon the chicken mixture into soft flour tortillas; roll and place in lightly greased casserole dish.

For the sauce, place evaporated  milk, Velveeta and Rotel in sauce pan and heat together until cheese is melted. Stir consistently – this is quick to burn. Once the cheese is completely melted, pour the sauce over the rolled tortillas in the casserole dish.  Cover with shredded Monterrey Jack cheese.

Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is brown & bubbly.

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NOTES:

  • I sprinkled some shredded cheese into the tortilla with the chicken mixture before I rolled it. Not a lot – just a little sprinkling.
  • If you’d prefer, you can use diced green chiles instead of Rotel tomatoes with chiles.
  • I heated the tortillas in the microwave so that they’d be soft and easier to roll.
  • I bake in two 8×8 pans and place four rolled tortillas in each. One pan is enough for our family of four.
  • For our side dish, I made pinto beans.

Do you have a chicken enchilada recipe? If so, please share.

Kelly

 

MaceMallows

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Macey has to do an entrepreneurial project at school. She has to come up with something homemade to sell. So, she decided on marshmallows. Homemade marshmallows, of course.  When she told me about it, I was pretty excited because I love to cook and create new things in the kitchen. I also enjoy working with my girls in the kitchen. So, I set about to find a great recipe for homemade marshmallows. My old friend Google led me to The Smitten Kitchen blog where I found a great recipe along with helpful notes for making delicious homemade marshmallows. Score!!

I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up the various ingredients. When I got home, Macey and I got to work in the kitchen. These marshmallows are really easy to make. I’m glad I had the recipe notes from The Smitten Kitchen because that prepared me for the mess.  Macey couldn’t do everything, but the recipe had plenty for her to assist with in the kitchen. She helped grease and sugar the pan, she measured and poured, etc. We had a great time creating these marshmallows together.  I really couldn’t get over the simplicity of making them. By my own admission, I am not the most talented cook in the kitchen when it comes to candy. I can create all sorts of wonderful dishes and I enjoy baking too. It’s just that I have never found my niche with confections. Fortunately, making marshmallows is significantly more simple than making, say, divinity candy at which I abysmally failed at my first attempt. (oops) Making marshmallows was definitely easy and definitely messy. Macey and I would both agree, however, that the mess was worth it. The clean-up was actually a good bit easier than I anticipated. Just be ready to use HOT water to get the remaining marshmallow “goo” out of the stand mixer bowl. (And, a shout-out of THANKS to Mickey for helping us clean up after the preparation.)

We made the marshmallows last evening and let them set overnight. I cut them this morning and, of course, we had to taste them. Well, to be perfectly honest, we tasted the “goo” last night once the marshmallows were poured into the pan to cool and set. So, we already knew it was good. However, I must say that they got better once they cooled and set. Oh my good gracious, they are fantastic!! My friend Jamie said the following to me in a blog post: “And be prepared to never want to buy another store marshmallow again. Homemade ones taste exactly like store bought ones, only fresh. I can’t explain it, but you’ll understand when you eat one!” Jamie…you were RIGHT! I may never buy store-bought marshmallows again. These were incredibly easy to make and they taste amazing! YUM!!

Macey has decided that her marshmallows will be called MaceMallows. How cute is that?! We now have to come up with cute packaging and a label for them. She will take them in next week and I think I am more excited than she is! I am hoping to get by Michael’s today to find some fun options for her MaceMallows. This school project is definitely one that we have all gotten to enjoy!

I will take a picture of her MaceMallows soon to share. I tried taking photos with my iPhone this morning, but they didn’t do it justice. So, I’ll get out the “big” camera later and see what I can do. 🙂

Happy Thursday,
Kelly

PS: The recipe can be found by clicking through to the springy, fluffy marshmallows blog entry for The Smitten Kitchen. I am so glad I found this blog. I have bookmarked and will be checking back frequently!

Product Review & Recipe

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Last week I blogged about discovering the website Kraft First Taste. In that post, I mentioned getting a coupon for Philadelphia Cooking Cream. This evening I tried the cooking creme for the first time. I used the “savory garlic” flavored cooking creme and, oh my, it was fantastic!!! I used the recipe on the back of the package and it was not only easy to prepare, but tasted amazing!! I just had to share.

Creamy Chicken Florentine

Prep Time: 10 minutes    Total Time: 22 minutes    Makes: 4 servings

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup halved red pepper strips (I chopped one whole small red bell pepper)
1 package (6oz) baby spinach leaves
1 tub (10 oz) PHILADELPHIA  Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
2 cups hot cooked penne pasta
2 Tbsp roasted pine nuts , optional (we didn’t have, so I omited)

Cook chicken and peppers in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 5-6 minutes or until chicken is done. Add spinach; cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until wilted. Drain all bout 1Tbsp of liquid. (I didn’t have any liquid to drain) Add cooking creme; cook and stir 3 minutes. Stir in pasta. Top with pine nuts if desired.

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Like I said, this was crazy easy to prepare.  It was no trouble at all.  The taste? Amazing!! Macey, our second grader, loved it too.  She especially liked the spinach and she ate the red bell peppers willingly which is a first for her. I appreciated that the veggies were incorporated right into the main dish. How easy is that for a busy week night? YUM!!

I also have the Italian Cheese and Herb variety of the cooking creme and I’m really excited to try that soon. I have a pizza crust ready to bake at home,  so maybe I’ll make the Easy Tomato-Basil Pizza one night this week. Sounds good, right? I’ll keep y’all posted.

Blessings,

Kelly

Oven Fried Chicken

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I made oven “fried” chicken tonight for dinner and it was so tasty!! The recipe calls for chicken parts, but I don’t mess with whole chickens, so I used chicken breast strips. (The thought of cutting up a chicken squidges me out!) This was so easy to make, tasted delicious and is healthy too! So, I’m sharing for others to enjoy.

Oven “Fried” Chicken
Makes 4 servings

1/2 cup fat-free buttermilk
1/2 cup cornflakes, crushed
3T all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2lb chicken parts, skinned
4 teaspoons canola oil

Preheat oven to 400; spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Pour the buttermilk into a large shallow bowl. On a sheet of wax paper, combine the cornflake crumbs, flour, salt and pepper. Dip the chicken into the buttermilk, then dredge in the cornflake mixture, coating completely. Place the chicken on the baking sheet; drizzle with the oil. Bake 30 minutes, then turn the chicken over. Bake until cooked through, about 15-20 minutes longer.

229 cal, 10g fat, 2g sat fat, 0 trans fat, 64mg chol, 295mg sodium, 11g carb, 23g protein, 49mg cal

2009 Thankful List, Post 6

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I’m still posting daily, y’all. WOO HOO!! If anyone is still reading my blog, I hope the shock of my regular posting isn’t too much for you. Ha!! It has honestly been great for me to get back into the swing of things with my blog. I’m enjoying it.

Today, I am thankful for no-bake cookies. That’s right, cookies. Ever since I read Kim’s blog entry on no-bakes over at Stirring the Pot, I have had a craving for these wonderful cookies. I remember the first time I ever made and tried these cookies. It was one summer at 4-H camp in cooking class. They were delicious then and they still are! I haven’t made any no-bake cookies in ages, but I got a recipe together last night and whipped up a half batch. Oh, they did NOT disappoint. So ooey, gooey good when they were still warm and continued to be good as they cooled and set. YUM YUM YUM!! I’ll post the recipe to share because I’m nice like that. Enjoy!

kelly_recipe_card

No-Bake Cookies

Chocolate-Peanut Butter No-bake cookies
2 cups sugar
½ stick butter
1 ½ cups peanut butter
½ cup sugar
4 tbsp. Hershey’s cocoa
½ tsp. Vanilla
2 ½ cups minute oats
Mix all ingredients except oats. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir constantly, w/o stopping, add oats and spoon out onto wax paper.

2 cups sugar
½ stick butter
1 ½ cups peanut butter (I used chunky)
½ cup sugar
4 tbsp. Hershey’s cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups old fashioned oats

Mix all ingredients except oats. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir constantly, w/o stopping, add oats and stir well to coat. Spoon out onto wax paper. Let cool to set.

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I halved that recipe and it made a dozen cookies. I used a scoop to form the cookies and they turned out just right. I love the chunky peanut butter because the little chunks of peanut give so much flavor.